Times of Desperation
by Always a Bookworm
Summary: The world is at war. Everything they had once known is forgotten; lost in this world of blood, death and the struggle for survival. The world they rule over is at war. Rendershipping, for contest.


Hello, m'dears! This is the story for Round 14 of the YGO contest (yes, 14 rounds in and our illustrious hostess still has some truly dastardly pairings up her sleeve! xD) and the pairing is **Rendershipping (Jou x Pegasus x Kaiba).**

My entry is horribly rushed, and was written in the space of a rather sleep deprived six hours. I'm going on holiday tomorrow, and unfortunately this meant I only had two days to write this in- and considering I ended up writing 8,000 words and beginning the fic with absolutely no idea where it was going to end, I'm quite proud of myself! :P

Warning(s): Mild violence, reams of grammatical errors, implied slash/threesome

Pairings: Rendershipping, Thiefshipping, Toonshipping

I hope you enjoy! :)

* * *

><p>Times of Desperation<p>

* * *

><p><em>It is the Year 25 PR.<em>

_The 'PR', he remembered vaguely, stood for 'Post Revolution'. They had stopped measuring time the way he had once known- although towards the end it had become so muddled that no one really noticed. Or cared._

_He thinks that it is ironic, really, as he stands at the barred window overlooking the city (__his city__) that despite everyone's insistence at the time that the Revolution had been 'Glorious', it had only taken 25 years for them to forget it._

_To forget everything that had once been. To forget the lives they had once had. There is nothing now; nothing but his war, and death, and the beautifully horrific struggle for survival._

_He smiles._

_It is the Year 25 PR and the world that he rules over is at war._

* * *

><p>Jou snatched the bread from the grimy hands of the street vendor and stuffed it jealously underneath his coat, fishing around in his pocket for a few coins. Handing over the grubby silver, inscribed with the characteristic 'KC', the vendor nodded and waved him on. Jou sighed, thinking dismally that he had just spent their last few coins on some mouldy bread that would only last a day or so.<p>

But that was how it had been for years now.

Jou was a 'rogue', as the nobles up in the city mockingly described them; someone who lived (or _tried _to live) on the sprawling edges of the city. The Inner Circle was where the towering Head Quarters of KaibaCorp stood, the giant letters visible from anywhere, even in the Outer Circle where Jou lived.

The small hut that he shared with his sister was very close to the Wall- the great concrete structure that was intended to protect them from the soldiers of the other side. Jou sometimes thought to himself, as he bitterly gazed at the rough stone looming over their home, topped with roll upon roll of barbed wire and mines and those new laser beams that the scientists in the Inner Circle were so proud of, that it was more to keep people _in_ than out.

Jou had never been outside of Domino. He had met people that had, but all he had managed to glean from them were furtive whispers of a world that he didn't know, a world that he would never know. Those people's eyes always seemed to glaze over, as if they were lost in the dream of the outside world, before they remembered how they had been forced to return when they had been caught without the correct papers.

Jou was determined to one day get the 'correct papers' for his sister at least; 'you need the correct papers' was a phrase that was always tossed around by the stern officials, but no one had any idea _how_ to get them. But, Jou thought angrily to himself, they were certain to be expensive.

Very expensive.

Jou screwed up his fists inside his jacket pockets and bowed his head as he walked. _Everything_ cost money these days- and absurd amounts of it too. Even from his earliest childhood memories he could remember his mother desperately scraping money together to keep them alive, and as he grew older he had become accustomed to the fact that the dealing and buying on the black market was the only way to survive in the Outer Circle.

(Jou had once heard an old woman- one of the few elderly people still alive it seemed- muttering that there was no morality left in the world after spotting him dealing the 'emotion' drugs that had become so popular in recent years. Jou wasn't sure what 'morality' meant, and that thought scared him for some unknown reason.)

"Something wrong?" a voice from the shadows behind him startled Jou out of his reverie and he spun around, hand instantly going to the knife he kept at his hip. He relaxed, relieved, when the now recognisable figure laughed and held up his hands. "Hey, hey. Relax, it's just me."

"Hi Otogi," Jou smiled at the skinny boy leaning against the wall. Otogi grinned lazily back, a cigarette firmly clasped between his fingers and his usual flirtatious grin in place.

"You look stressed, Jou," he murmured, voice husky from the smoke. "Want one?"

"No thanks," Jou refused automatically as Otogi shook the box of cigarettes in his direction. "Shizuka hates the smell."

Otogi smirked at the mention of his sister- Jou pointedly ignored this, as he knew it only referred to the brief months when Shizuka had had an innocent crush on the boy, before discovering exactly what work _he_ had discovered to pay the bills. "How is she?"

Jou shrugged. "The same, really. Hungry."

Otogi nodded, his grin suddenly fading and his gaze returning to the steady stream of smoke that wound its way from the tip of his cigarette. "I know the feeling."

Jou didn't have to answer; this constant hunger was a fact of life, not something to be pitied. There just wasn't enough money- what with the war and all- and the Inner Circle were so paranoid about their own supplies running low that they'd pretty much cut off supplies to the Outer Circle all together. Jou hadn't seen himself in a mirror for weeks now, but if he did then he feared he wouldn't recognise the ragged, scrawny boy with a mess of dirty blond hair that was always falling into his eyes.

Otogi was a different picture completely, but then, Jou reasoned, he always had been. The pair had become friends from necessity- they'd both been cornered on the wrong side of a pub brawl one dark night behind the seediest bar in town- and since then they'd remained close. Jou appreciated Otogi's dry wit and cynicism, and Otogi… Well, Jou figured that Otogi didn't really care about anyone but himself, but for some reason found Jou at least slightly amusing and so kept him around.

People living the way they did didn't really have time for friendships.

"You know if you're really strapped for cash," Otogi remarked casually, taking a long drag and breathing the smoke out with an almost blissful expression. "Bakura's got a new scheme- he's looking for someone willing…"

Jou snorted. "I don't trust Bakura."

Otogi laughed along with him. "Who does?"

"If he's not doing it himself then it must be pretty dangerous," Jou pointed out and when Otogi smirked in agreement he turned to leave.

"It'll pay," Otogi spoke suddenly, and Jou turned back to see Otogi's eyes blazing. "Bakura told me to find someone desperate enough to risk everything on this job, but said it would pay for them to have any kind of life they wanted after it's finished."

Jou's throat went dry. Any kind of life… Maybe even a life outside the walls of the city?

He tilted his head and stared at Otogi, abruptly grateful that the shadows of the gloomy sky and the wall on which he was leaning left the boy in darkness; Jou wasn't sure he could bear to see the state of his friend. On first glance the damage didn't seem too bad, but Jou could see the tell tale shadows under his eyes, the tears and rips in his revealing clothing, the smudged make up and the chipped nail polish.

He looked… _dirty_.

"You don't look well, Otogi," he said, quietly. Otogi blinked in surprise, obviously not expecting that response, before shrugging: "My clients aren't that picky- and I tend to clean myself up for the ones up in the Inner Circle anyway."

Jou raised his eyebrows. "You've got clients up in the Inner Circle?"

Otogi smirked and tapped his cigarette on the wall. "A couple of minor business men- but before you know it, darling, I'll be up there with the big fish. I'll be rolling in it before long! Just think- cheap whore to working for Kaiba himself, how does that sound?"

Jou laughed. "Like something out of one of the old stories."

The gong in the Inner Circle above rang out six times signalling the time of day and interrupted their brief moment of laughter, and Otogi swore under his breath. "Sorry, Jou, I've got to run, I've got a client- I'm probably going to be late anyway!" Jou nodded, clapping a hand to Otogi's back as he dashed past. "Think about that job, though," Otogi said seriously, turning around just before he reached the end of the street. "Because Jou, to be honest, _you_ don't look well either."

Jou, running his fingers over the bread still ensconced within his jacket, smiled tightly and waved his friend away.

A tempting idea, but one he would never follow through. Jou, despite some people's belief, wasn't stupid. There was no way he was going to work for _Bakura_. The guy was just as ruthless as Kaiba himself, and some said equally clever and certainly as dangerous.

Jou knew that if you worked for him, you ran a high risk of ending up with a knife in your back and your body thrown in the sewers on the fringes of the city before too long.

You'd have to be insane to voluntarily work with Bakura, Jou thought wryly.

Or desperate.

* * *

><p>"Shizuka! Hey, Shizuka?"<p>

Jou called his sister's name as he stooped to enter the tiny, two-room hut they shared. He felt a swell of pride when he saw the main room in a tidy state, their meagre possessions in neat and orderly positions around the room. His sister always managed to make their home look so much better than it really was...

"Shizuka?"

"In here, Jou," came the muffled voice from the bedroom. Slightly surprised at the fact that she wasn't waiting to welcome him home, Jou pushed open the creaking door to the bedroom to find his sister sitting on the bed in the dark, legs crossed and her head bowed so that her auburn hair fell all around her face like a curtain.

"Why are you sitting in the dark?" Jou chuckled, flicking on the switch only to remember that the Inner Circle had decreased their electricity ration to only three days a week. "Damn. Guess we've had our 72 hours, huh?"

Jou tried to joke about it as he flicked on the lighter he kept in his pocket to ignite a few of the candles dotted around the room, but his sister's uncharacteristic silence was unnerving.

"Shizuka? What's wrong?"

She let out a strangled gulp and Jou immediately went to her side in concern, "Shizuka? Are you hurt? Did someone hurt you while I was gone?"

"No, Jou, no one hurt me..." Shizuka's soft voice immediately soothed the anger Jou had felt rushing through him at the thought of anyone bringing harm to his beloved sister. "But Jou... Oh, Jou, it's happened! I knew it would one day, I just hoped it wouldn't be so soon..."

Dread settling in his stomach like lead, Jou said apprehensively, "What's happened, Shizuka?"

She raised her eyes to his slowly and Jou had to bite back a moan of distress when he saw that her eyes were cloudy and the pupils closer to a milky white than their usual brown.

"I can hardly see anything, Jou... It's been getting worse the last few weeks but I didn't want to worry you- I thought it was just because of the stormy weather that makes everything so dark!"

She paused and twisted her hands together. "I'm... I'm nearly blind Jou." She gulped again, and Jou saw a single tear fall to the bedcover. "What am I going to do?"

Jou wrapped his arms around her in a fierce hug and pressed his lips to her hair while she cried into his shoulder. His mind was racing- the logistics of caring for a blind, vulnerable young girl in the city's current environment would be nearly impossible, the only way to help her would be to pay for her to have the operation to give her back her eyesight...

Which would mean going to one of the famed hospitals that stood on neutral territory _outside the Wall_.

Which meant he needed money, lots of it, and fast.

"Don't worry, Shizuka," he murmured into the darkness. "I know someone... He'll get us the money. We're going to be okay."

If desperation was what Bakura wanted, then that was what he was going to get.

* * *

><p>The underground bar where Bakura's gang held their centre of operations was quite possibly the most disreputable place Jou had ever been, despite the fact that he had grown up in a place that was practically run by criminals and black market dealers.<p>

Jou skirted around the young men and girls sitting at the bar and smoking, who smirked at him with heavily made up faces and waved him along to make room for the richer clients who they led into the back rooms. The barkeeper was polishing a grimy glass with an even grimier cloth, and had been glaring at Jou balefully ever since he entered the room. Feigning confidence, Jou ordered a drink and settled down on one of the filthy bar stools to wait.

The other tables in the bar were filled with men playing poker, cards and dice or drowning their sorrows in cheap alcohol. There were rough looking men standing whispering in the dark corners, and the faint music that was crackling from the ancient CD player behind the bar could barely be heard over the raucous laughter and the clink of glasses.

Some of the criminals and whores occasionally shot him snide glances, clearly suspicious of his unprecedented appearance- they probably weren't used to new faces in their bar. Nervously, Jou tried to make himself blend into the bar and bent his head over the drink the barkeeper had shoved towards him.

Jou wondered what on earth he was doing somewhere where he so clearly didn't belong and was just about to leave- reasoning he could always find Bakura somewhere else- when he felt someone brush up against his arm and a familiarly sarcastic voice say: "Jou! How nice it is to see you here, and what a surprise!"

Jou turned with a heavy heart to see Bakura, cocky grin and henchmen in place, standing just behind him. He wore only the tatty striped T-shirt and jeans Jou had seen him in several times before, presumably having left his favourite black coat elsewhere. Although the slim frame and mane of white hair didn't give off the impression of someone particularly dangerous, Jou could spot the jagged scar down his cheek, the telltale bulge of a dagger at his hip and the glint in his eye that spelled exactly the opposite. And, judging by the way everyone in the smoky room had stiffened slightly when this man entered, Jou wasn't the only one to be rightly wary.

"A surprise, Bakura?" he said, forcing a smile. "You asked me here yourself."

Bakura smirked and lifted himself onto the stool next to Jou. "Of course I did. It must have slipped my mind."

Jou took another cautious sip of his drink as Bakura eyed him with his glinting eyes. "You wanted to see _me_ though," he said. "Not the other way around." He bent into Jou's head and whispered, "What's this about?"

Jou held his gaze. "Otogi told me something about a job."

The effect on Bakura was instantaneous. He drew back, eyes immediately narrowed and darting left and right to ensure no one was listening in. "And what's that got to do with you?" his voice was now more of a suspicious growl than anything else.

Fighting to keep his voice steady Jou replied: "Otogi said you would pay for it."

Bakura raised a single eyebrow. "Oh, this will pay. We'll be rich as kings by the end of it, that's for sure. I'm just not sure you're really willing to risk everything for it."

Jou, proud of himself for getting this far without cracking, said firmly, "I'm desperate. I'll do anything."

Bakura stared at him for what felt like a long time and Jou could almost feel the bodyguard behind him reaching for a weapon. Eventually though, Bakura nodded almost imperceptibly and turned around.

"Come with me," his tone now sharp and business like. "We'll discuss this in private."

Jou nodded and followed obediently, still ignoring the curious and suspicious gazes he was receiving, and tried not to think about what he was getting himself into.

* * *

><p>"Katsuya Jounouchi?" the only other man in the room's voice was incredulous. "Really? Please, Bakura, he's only a kid! He won't be able to handle something on this scale!"<p>

Jou watched as Bakura circled the table to sit opposite him next to the man who had just spoken. He had been led into a tiny room off the bar, windowless and dark, with only a table and a few chairs in it. It felt like a cell- or an interrogation room, Jou thought anxiously.

Bakura had whispered something to his bodyguard, who had nodded and left only to return a few minutes later with a file (that Jou noted in apprehension had his name in capital letters and a photo of him on the front) and a smaller man in tow; a blond with tanned skin and a lavender top that left his midriff bare. For a moment Jou wondered why Bakura had brought in one of the prostitutes outside to sit in on the meeting, but when the boy walked under the light Jou recognised him instantly as Bakura's infamous partner-in-crime (and, if the rumours were true, his partner full stop), Malik Ishtar.

Malik was currently staring at him with a frown while Bakura settled into a chair next to him. "Calm down, Malik," Bakura said, smirking at the furious glare he immediately received. "Jou has explained himself to me… Quite convincingly. Hear him out, and I think you'll agree."

Taking this as his cue, Jou rapidly burst into the story of his sister's blindness and how he was willing to do _anything _(he didn't miss the look that passed between the criminals when he said this) to get the money to help her and to buy his way out of the city.

"I need the money," he finished. "I think you underestimate what I am prepared to do to get it."

There was a moment of silence before Bakura clapped his hands together with a wide grin. "Excellent, Jou, exactly what I like to hear. Don't you think, my dear," he turned to Malik and lowered his voice to a purr. "That he has the, how shall I put it, _criminal instinct_?"

Malik nodded slowly, and Jou noted dully that he had the same dangerous grin as Bakura. "I do believe you're right, Bakura. Looks like Otogi found us a good one!"

"Well?" Jou asked, now too nervous to stand their mocking tones and knowing smirks much longer. "Do I pass the test?"

"You've passed," Malik said dismissively, as if that were no longer a question. "So we are going to trust you with this job."

Jou's heart sped up slightly as Bakura leant across the table and lowered his voice. "You need to understand, Jou, that what we are about to tell you is secret. And I don't mean the kind of secret you can possibly tell your family, or even the kind where you hint about it to your friends. This secret is the one you _take to your grave_ and don't even reveal if the Devil himself tries to prise it out of you," Bakura's voice was now a hiss and Jou found himself leaning in as well as if magnetised by this dangerous, powerful man. "So if you tell _anyone _then you have betrayed our trust-"

"And you will be punished accordingly," Malik finished, leaning in as well and clasping his hands on the table. "Do we have your word?"

Jou's throat went dry and he nodded nervously. "You have my word."

Bakura's smirk widened. "Good. Then the job is very simple; it remains between the three of us, our employer and a few select contacts in the Inner Circle."

Jou jerked in surprise. "This is a job in the Inner Circle?" He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but it certainly hadn't been something that would involve people up there- this must be bigger than he had originally thought…

Malik nodded impatiently. "I thought we had made it clear to you how dangerous this job is?"

Jou clamped his mouth shut and vowed mentally not to interrupt the pair again. Bakura continued: "On this job you will be required to make your way into the Inner Circle, accompanied by us-" Jou's eyes widened; _both_ of them were going to help out on this? It must be huge… "- and then you will make your way into KaibaCorp while the pair of us carry out a few… _tasks_ that need to be completed outside. When you have reached the top floor you will carry out the job, before leaving the building, meeting us and escaping back into the city before we can be discovered."

Jou blinked; they made breaking into KaibaCorp sound so easy!

"So… What am I stealing?"

Bakura frowned and glanced at Malik. "Excuse me?"

"Well, I assume that's the reason you want me to break into KaibaCorp, right? To steal something- plans, or new war strategies?" Jou spoke slowly, trailing off as he realised the pair opposite him were smirking at one another again.

"Oh no, Jou," Malik said in a mock-reassuring tone. "We don't want you to _steal_ anything."

"The job that we have been enlisted to do," Bakura said, darkly. "The job that _you_ will be undertaking, that is much simpler. We need you to kill Seto Kaiba."

* * *

><p>It was a week later that Jou received the simple message: <em>Time to go<em>. It flashed across the screen of the simple mobile that they had given him and Jou thought, wryly, that if anything spelt out his death sentence then it would be those three tiny words.

It was past midnight when he rose from his bed, slipping into the black clothes that he had been supplied with, checking to make sure that all the weapons that had been slipped his way over the last week were in place- from completely unexpected strangers in the street; Jou had to admire Bakura's impressive network of connections- and finally brushed a hand through his hair and gazed at his sister's sleeping form.

He had exacted an oath from Bakura and Malik after the initial shock of his task had worn off; they would protect his sister and ensure that she had all that she might require if something happened to him. Which, the small voice in the back of Jou's mind insisted, was very likely. Because, Jou reasoned, he was about to murder his leader- the man who ruled over them all, the most important, most powerful man in Domino. It wasn't going to be something he could just run away from.

He pushed away the worry and guilt he felt at leaving her and concentrated on the peace of her sleeping face. She looked so happy, so free of care… She trusts her brother so much, Jou thought and felt a sudden tightness in his throat. I can't abandon her.

Swallowing, he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead, whispering: "Goodbye Shizuka. I'll see you soon, okay? Don't worry about me- I'll be back before you know it!"

He walked softly away and paused only to tack a letter onto the door. He had written it in thick black lettering so he knew she would be able to read it; although it didn't explain exactly where he was, it promised she would be okay and he would come back to her.

Jou stopped at the door to pull the black hood over his distinctive blond hair. "I need to do this, Shizuka," he murmured. "I know it's stupid. I know it's dangerous. I know it goes against everything we've always been taught… But I need to do this. For you."

And then he was gone, blending into the darkness of the Outer Circle at night, brushing past the houses and shops and sleeping people as silently as if he were already a ghost.

* * *

><p>"<em>Are they coming?"<em>

"_You're so impatient, my dear. I've hired the best of the best to carry out this particular mission... Trust them. Trust me."_

"_Wait! The camera on the wall has picked something up... Yes, that's them. Hmm, they seem to have discovered one of the tunnels through the wall- ingenious, I must say... Ah, it seems that the Gatekeeper doesn't even need to be bribed, clearly one of their own men- their network is more impressive than I thought... Maybe you're right, for once. This 'Bakura' certainly seems to know what he's doing."_

"_And he will have hired someone excellent for the job, I am sure."_

"_I hope so. I do want this to all go according to plan."_

"_It will. I promise you, it will all go __perfectly__." _

* * *

><p>The car that had been waiting for them on the other side wasn't impressive- it was just a rather banged up Ford, nothing particularly special- but Jou hadn't been able to restrain his gasp of amazement at it. Cars had been something banned from the Outer Circle in his earliest youth, and he could only vaguely remember them. He ghosted the tips of his fingers over the rust-red bonnet in delight, and almost didn't hear Malik's grumpy mutter: "An old car? What happened to my motorbike, Bakura?"<p>

Bakura had ignored them both, shoving them into the backseat of the machine as he took the wheel. They had driven around the city until the midday sun had risen high in the sky- 'to put off anyone following us', Bakura had briefly explained. Jou hadn't complained though- the Inner Circle was more than he could have ever imagined. The skyscrapers and buildings of glass and white stone seemed to glitter in the sun, clean and beautiful, real trees growing in cultivated rows along the paved streets and birds perched on the windowsills were people had left bowls of seed out. It was such a contrast to the darkness and dirt of the Outer Circle, such a shocking difference to the abject poverty that the citizens he knew lived in, that Jou couldn't help but wish that his sister were able to see it too.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Malik had asked him at one point, amused by Jou's awed expression.

"Yes," he had breathed in response, gazing at a smiling couple holding hands as they walked along the pavement.

Bakura snorted. "Nothing compared to the country outside of Domino, Jou. Absolutely nothing. _That's_ beauty."

Malik shot him a smirk. "And after this job," he said, brushing an affectionate hand along the back of Bakura's neck. "We'll be able to retire there in style. Have you ever been outside, Jou?"

Jou shook his head, still captivated by the wonders of the city. "I've never been outside the Outer Circle."

Malik laughed, unusually relaxed. "You've got a lot to look forward to. You and your sister."

"Let's get through this job first," Bakura interrupted sharply, but Malik's smile didn't fade and he merely pressed his lips to Bakura's shoulder.

Slightly unnerved by Malik's uncharacteristic change in mood, Jou decided to make the most of it. "I was wondering if you could answer a question I have about this job," he began, tentatively.

Malik leaned back into his seat and shrugged. "Why not?"

Jou took a deep breath. "Who hired us to do this?"

Bakura's hands tightened on the front wheel and Malik's smile faded somewhat. "That doesn't really affect you."

"But it does," Jou pressed. "I'm the one that's going to do this, I deserve to know _who_ I'm doing it for!"

Malik's eyes darted to meet Bakura's in the mirror, and Jou could have sworn that for a split second the Egyptian boy looked _scared_.

"How much do you know about the War, Jou?" Bakura asked, suddenly.

Jou blinked in surprise. "Just as much as the next rogue," he said, slipping into his natural slang. "That we're at war with another city and have been since the revolution. I know a couple of guys who went off to fight years back, but since then… I don't really know that much," he admitted, slightly embarrassed.

Malik nodded. "No-one does. Not even in the Inner Circle- the War is a highly secretive affair," his tone took on a slightly sardonic edge. "It's fought with secrets, deceit and threats rather than real soldiers for the most part. Domino City has been fighting Duelist Kingdom on and off for twenty five years now- I don't think anyone really remembers how it all started, some petty feud between the leaders I suppose," he added in, bitterly. "It's a drain on resources; money, food, weapons. Things that even Seto Kaiba doesn't have an endless supply of."

"People want the War over," Bakura cut in, spinning the wheel so they turned off down a side street. "Important people."

"Like?" Jou asked, curiously.

Malik's eyes glinted once more. "Like the leader of the other side."

Jou gaped. "_That's_ who hired us to kill Kaiba? The ruler of Duelist Kingdom?"

"Pegasus J. Crawford," Malik spoke in a mock-official tone. "Finally decided to get his hands really dirty and just have his enemy assassinated instead of carrying on with this hopeless war."

Jou sat back in the seat in shock. He had never felt any particular loyalty to Kaiba- more furious resentment for the way he allowed them to live- but he did admit that killing him for the leader of the opposing side… It made him feel uncomfortably traitorous.

Before he could voice anything though Bakura made an abrupt swerve into an seemingly innocuous car park. "This is our stop."

He turned in his seat and glared at Jou fiercely: "I've told you before and I'll tell you again, Jou. None of the information you've just heard leaves this car."

Shaking his head mutely, Jou opened the car door and stretched his legs out with a sign of relief. Never having been in a car before, the cramped conditions had come as quite a shock to someone so lanky.

Malik followed him and gazed around them with false nonchalance- although Jou, standing right next to him, could sense the way his body had tensed as soon as he stepped onto the tarmac- before saying clearly to Bakura: "I assume the entrance is around here somewhere?"

Bakura nodded, pulling himself out of the car. "You can talk safely- I've just had confirmation that the short circuiting of the cameras was successful," he murmured, eyeing the security cameras attached to the building with amusement. "They don't know we're here."

Jou just watched in a mixture of bewilderment and reluctant respect as the pair immediately set to work; Malik on the car's number plate, and Bakura on the paintwork (apparently they kept a spray gun and several tins of dark blue paint in the boot of the car). Within minutes the number plate had been unscrewed and replaced with something completely different, and the machine was a deep blue as opposed to its original muddy red. Jou couldn't help but admire their professionalism, and, when they had finished on the car and pulled him away towards the grey stone building where the door was opened by a security guard (who Bakura slipped a couple of bank notes), Jou suddenly appreciated just how big their operation really was.

"You have people on the inside of _KaibaCorp_?" Jou hissed as they began to walk down a set of steep stairs towards the basement.

He could imagine the smug expression on Bakura's face despite the fact that the thief was in front of him, and Malik flashed him a smirk before saying: "We're not actually in KaibaCorp, Jou, so your question is slightly redundant. But you'll soon find out that we do- of course we do. Did you really think we wouldn't?"

Jou repressed a groan. Apparently as well as both being extremely dangerous and well connected, his two employers were also unbearably arrogant.

* * *

><p>Jou hadn't really been able to follow a lot of what had happened since they entered the basement of what had turned out to be the head office of a local supermarket.<p>

Bakura and Malik had immediately started speaking in rapid, low voices to three shady looking men who had been waiting for them, in a language that Jou didn't understand. This alarmed him further; foreigners hadn't been allowed into Domino since the revolution, how could three of them be here now…

And then they opened up the hole in the wall.

Jou hadn't been able to restrain his gasp of shock which had elicited much amusement from the three men (according to Malik they were from somewhere called 'Europe'), and he felt slightly affronted that Bakura had neglected to mention the fact that these men had been employed by him six years ago to connect the basement of Kaiba Corp to the basement in which they were standing.

From the brief summary that Malik threw his way Jou could glean that it had become an obsession for the men- men who would be thrown out of Domino if Kaiba discovered their presence there, or even arrested and sent to one of his many prisons.

The bitterness in Malik's tone and the fiery anger which he could sense in the foreigners' tones when they spoke of Kaiba all served to prove to Jou that no matter what Bakura told him, this wasn't just a 'job' to them.

This was revenge.

And, as Jou stooped to enter the tunnel which would lead him right into the heart of KaibaCorp, he realised that that was exactly what he wanted as well.

* * *

><p>"<em>They're about to arrive, how impressive."<em>

"_I did tell you that they were the best."_

_"So you did. If they complete their task then I will believe it… For now, at least, I remain sceptical of this 'Jou's' ability."_

_"Hush, my dear. I wouldn't doubt his bravery if I were you."_

_"That's not what I doubt. I just don't think he will be able to go through with it."_

"_We shall see. They are coming."_

* * *

><p>Exactly how Malik had succeeded in laying his hands on an electrician's uniform- emblazoned with the employee 'KC' logo and including a full ID badge- Jou didn't know.<p>

He was even more amazed by the way that the pair had apparently managed to put his data onto the KaibaCorp system so that he could simply walk through the finger-print recognition technology.

But, having been dressed up in the disguise and left at the entrance of the lift with only a handy-man's bag for show and the pistol in his pocket, Jou still didn't feel entirely ready. Bakura and Malik had left- Jou didn't want to know what the task _they_ had been told to carry out was- agreeing on a meeting place for after.

After.

(Jou didn't really think there was going to be an 'after'. Neither had they, judging by the way Bakura had actually nodded goodbye to him with grudging respect.)

He entered the lift and pressed in the numbers for the top floor with hands that shook ever so slightly.

As the lift hummed and began to move steadily upwards Jou closed his fist over the pistol. _Do this, and we can leave the city. Pay for the operation. Live in the light._

He repeated the words to himself like a mantra. It was almost like a prayer, although religion had been one of the first things banned after the Revolution, despite the fact that many of the rogues still held onto their faith.

They didn't really have anything else.

The doors made a beeping sound and slid open to reveal an empty corridor with a single door at the end. A plaque hung on the wood: _Seto Kaiba, CEO of KaibaCorp._

Taking a deep breath Jou tapped in the code that he had been forced to memorise and pressed his fingers into the electronic cast next to the door.

It took a few seconds, but eventually the door swung open.

Jou closed his eyes for a brief second and thought of Shizuka.

_Just think of what's worth fighting for_.

His fingers clasped tightly around the loaded gun, Jou entered the room.

* * *

><p>"Jounouchi. What a pleasant surprise."<p>

Jou nearly dropped the weapon in shock when he heard the voice. As soon as the words were spoken all the lights in the office flicked on and revealed a tall man in a pristine white suit sitting behind a glass desk. Jou stared at him as the brunette met his gaze coolly.

"How- how do you…"

Kaiba (because _of course_ it was Kaiba, he had seen the man's face on so many posters and pamphlets he had lost track by now) smirked and slotted his fingers together on the desk in front of him. "Oh, I know much more than just your name, _Katsuya_." Jou bristled at the use of his first name, but Kaiba ignored him. "I know that you were approached by a friend who offered you an escape despite desperately needing one himself, I know that you begged for work from a man you could never trust, I know that you were brought here by two of Domino's most ingenious criminals, I know that you are doing this for your sister's failing eyesight, I know-" Kaiba's eyes glinted and Jou was suddenly rooted to the spot in fear. "That you are here to kill me."

Thoughts raced through Jou's mind in panic; what was going on, how had he known, had someone betrayed them-

_He had to do it now._

"Is that what you were going to use?" Kaiba asked, mockingly tilting his head towards the pistol. "I'm disappointed. Guns are so… Juvenile."

Jou spoke without even thinking: "The guns that killed my friends fighting _your war_ weren't juvenile."

Amusement flashed through Kaiba's steely eyes. "Of course. You really do have so many reasons to hate me, don't you, Jounouchi? The war, keeping you locked away inside the Wall, the way your sister has to live… Because that's all that matters to you, isn't it? The safety and happiness of your sister?"

Jou's fingers tightened. "Yes. Of course."

"Wrong!" Kaiba's smirk widened. "It's not that at all, Jou! Honestly, I thought you would be more honest."

Jou felt anger bubbling up inside him. "My sister is the most important person in the _world_ to me-"

"That may be, but you're not doing this for her," Kaiba said scornfully. "You're doing this for yourself- because _you've_ always wanted to be free, because _you_ don't want to have to face admitting you can't take care of a blind sister, because _you _wanted to be a hero and save her, because _you _want revenge."

He gave a dark chuckle at the Jou's furious expression. "Am I not correct?"

"Shut up, you monster."

"Is that all you can say? You can't even fire a gun at the person you hate most in the world!" Kaiba taunted. "Coward. It's pitiful, it really is."

Jou's hands were now slippery with sweat and shaking more than ever. "I can shoot you…"

"Why do you think I haven't called security yet?" Kaiba asked in a mock-pitying voice. "Because I know you haven't got it in you to kill me."

"That's not true!" Jou whispered; his vision was blurring, all he could see was the pistol in front of him and Kaiba's sneer.

"Then shoot me," Kaiba said in a low voice. "Finish this."

Jou squeezed his eyes shut to block out the hissing voice.

"Go on, fire the pistol!"

_"I'm just not sure you're willing to risk everything for it._"

"_I'll do anything, Bakura. I'm desperate."_

"Do it!"

_Shizuka…_

Jou's eyes flashed open and he fired.

* * *

><p><em>Crack!<em>

* * *

><p>When the shot had finished echoing in his ears Jou blinked and looked up to see Kaiba sitting in the exact same position he had been a second ago, a bullet hole in the front of his white suit. Jou was trying to process why Kaiba hadn't fallen to the ground yet when he suddenly distinguished a sound coming from behind a partition that covered some of the office.<p>

It was the sound of clapping.

"Well done, Jounouchi," a distinguished man came out from behind the partition, a grin spreading across his face. He had long silvery hair and was dressed in a smart red suit, holding a half full cocktail glass; Jou noticed with a feeling of dread when his hair swung away from his face for a brief moment that one of his eyes was made of gold.

There wasn't a single person in the city that hadn't heard of the man with the eye of gold.

The ruthless man who had been at war with Seto Kaiba for 25 years.

The man who had hired him to carry out this job.

"Mr Crawford?" he asked uncertainly, lowering the pistol to his side.

The man chuckled and waved him off. "Please, call me Pegasus. And I must say- I'm very impressed with what you've done. I wasn't sure you'd be able to go through with it."

Jou's mind was whirring, confused and lost. "What are you doing here? What's going on?"

"He's here because I owe him money," the grumble that came from behind him nearly made Jou jump out of his skin. He whipped his head around to see, with a sharp jolt of disbelief, a very much alive Kaiba dusting the front of his jacket down. "I bet that you wouldn't be able to pull the trigger- I suppose I underestimated you."

At Jou's wide eyed expression he gestured brusquely down to his front. "Kevlar vest- it's bulletproof. I wasn't going to risk it."

Pegasus shot Kaiba an amused look and, placing the glass down on the desk, wrapped an arm around his shoulders fondly. "You just don't want to admit I was right."

Jou refused to believe his eyes- these men were enemies! They hated each other, they had fought a war for the whole of Jou's lifetime… And yet by the way Kaiba had automatically leaned in Pegasus' embrace with a reluctant smile Jou had a sudden feeling that they were the complete opposite of enemies.

"You're probably quite confused, Jounouchi," Pegasus continued, with a cold laugh at his expression. "Allow me to explain. You see, we have been looking for someone like you for some time now- someone that we can trust, someone that we know will work loyally on our side and will be willing to go as far as cold blooded murder to get what they want."

Jou opened his mouth to protest but nothing came out.

"We want to offer you a job, here in the Inner Circle. Your sister's operation will be paid for in full, your accommodation and living expenses will be covered and you will never have to live anything other than a life of luxury," Pegasus smiled in a way that chilled Jou to the bone. "Do we have a deal?"

"I- I… I don't understand," Jou forced out, trying desperately to stop his legs from shaking.

"Oh dear, haven't you caught on yet?" Kaiba rolled his eyes. "I see you're more brawn than brains… It's quite simple really. We're allies, Jou, we always have been. We took over these cities years ago- when the rest of the world fell to individual dictators we thought: 'Why not? Let's take what we deserve.' So we did. We took this land, we formed our capitols, we reigned as Kings."

"But we soon discovered," Pegasus said, in an almost thoughtful manner. "That people have an irritating tendency to rise up against oppressors. Freedom, you see," he added. "The need to be free is what drives so many. Like your little criminal friends. Anyway, we decided that instead of stamping out that hatred we would use it- channel it towards something else. If the people are taught to hate another city from the moment they are born, they have no time to think upon rebellion."

Jou frantically attempted to process this- these men were just dismantling everything he had ever perceived to be true. "So… So there is no war?"

Kaiba snorted. "Oh, there is a war. But it's all for show. It's not real- there will be no winner, no loser. We will carry on with this illusion for as long as need be- we have managed it for 25 years, after all."

Despite himself Jou burst out in indignation. "But people are _dying_!"

Pegasus shrugged. "We never said there wouldn't be sacrifice."

Jou was still struggling to wrap his head around all the information he had just received. "So… So all of this, all of this was just a trick? Some kind of game to get me here, to test me? Did Bakura and Malik… do they know?"

Kaiba laughed again. "Of course. _They_ approached _us_; they had figured it all out, they wanted money to keep them quiet. We made them a deal- find us a new servant that we can trust, and they would get their money."

Pegasus glanced out of the window. "I imagine they will have completed the second part of their task by now… It should happen soon." He turned back to Jou and his eyes flashed impatiently. "Well, Jounouchi? Do we have a deal?"

In the following years Jou would sometimes wonder what made him reach forward and shake Pegasus' hand. He didn't know whether it was because they offered him escape, or whether it was because he knew that if he refused he would be dead before he even tried to leave the room. Maybe it was because of all the care and luxury they had offered to his sister. Maybe it was because something in him was drawn to the dangerous charisma of the two men in front of him.

Maybe it was because, deep down, Jou had always longed to be powerful. To have control.

But for whatever reason he grasped Pegasus' hand at almost exactly the same time as he heard a colossal explosion from outside the window, and saw a pillar of smoke rising between the buildings a couple of streets away accompanied by the screams of civilians.

"They've done what they were told," Kaiba said, passively. "Blown up one of the KaibaCorp outposts, that is. We can pass it off as bombers from the other side- that should fuel the hatred for another few months at least."

"And so the war goes on," Pegasus smiled. "Congratulations Jou. You just chose the winning side."

* * *

><p><em>It is the Year 26 PR.<em>

_The years have begun to blur together in his mind, the years of war and death and blood._

_The years in which he has reigned. Victorious over all._

_There is a sound behind him, and he turns from the window to see Jou enter behind Kaiba, a tired scowl fixed in place as his fellow leader orders their most trusted servant to file some sort of paperwork._

_Pegasus smiles. _

_Their illusion of a war had always succeeded in capturing the people's minds and hearts. It was what made him (them) so powerful._

_That was all he had ever cared about._

_It is the Year 26 PR, and in his mind, the world that he rules over is at peace._

* * *

><p>Well, I hope you could ignore the fact that it was extremely rushed! : I know it all became a bit reminiscient of 1984 by the end, but I was in a bit of a hurry! xD

By the way, I have a horrible feeling that the terms 'Inner/Outer Circle' have been used before; I can't remember if I heard it in a book, film, fic or if I just dreamed it, so I apologise in advance if I've used an idea that you used in your own story- it was not intentional! I just have a really awful memory! :/

Anyway, thanks for reading! :D Now I'm off to the US for a week- I'll see you lot when I get back!

Bookworm


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